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Telegram to President Grover Cleveland from Governor Watson C. Squire and others, regarding the governor's unilateral proclamation of martial law in Seattle and requesting the assistance of federal troops, February 9, 1886

Watson Carvosso Squire, 1838-1926, was an attorney, Civil War veteran, industrialist, and governor of Washington Territory from 1884-1887. He was president of the Washington Statehood Convention in 1889 and served as a Washington State senator from 1889-1897. After the passage of the national Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, anti-Chinese agitation on the West Coast reached a fever pitch in 1885-1886. Governor Squire was forced to declare martial law in Seattle to maintain order during the anti-Chinese riots in Seattle and Tacoma, and later investigated property losses of the Chinese.

Roger Sherman Greene was a Civil War veteran and lawyer who served on the supreme court for Washington Territory, first as an associate justice and later as Chief Justice, from 1870 to 1887.

William Henry White served in many legal and political capacities in Washington Territory and Washington State from his arrival in the area in 1870 until his death in 1914. He had served as a prosecutor and a member of the territorial legislature before serving as Washington Territory's U.S. Attorney from 1885 to 1889. After statehood, he would serve on the state's Supreme Court and acted as Special Prosecutor for King County.

Granville Owen Haller, 1820-1897, was a Civil War veteran and a prominent Seattle businessman.